Near the beach, a home for all

MARINA DEL REY This affluent community might seem an unlikely place for apartments to house the poor, but when they open in 2016, the Gateway Apartments will provide 21 apartments for homeless and low-income people.

The four-story building with a sleek green seaweed-inspired facade will include 18 one-bedroom apartments and three studios. It will rise from a parcel that is partially a vacant lot on Beach Avenue a block southeast of West Washington Boulevard. Construction is expected to begin later this year.

The Venice Community Housing Corp. originally purchased the foreclosed property to build a homeless shelter. The group is working with the Hollywood Community Housing Corp. on the project.

The Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department has committed just more than $1 million to the project, which will cost about $9.8 million with other funding from Los Angeles County and tax credits.

The center will provide a live-in resident manager in one apartment, case management services for residents, help in developing life and career skills, and referrals for mental health and substance-abuse issues. Low-income people can also apply, but several units are dedicated to the homeless.

“The idea is that we move people off the streets directly into housing with supportive services wrapped around it,” said Va Lecia Adams Kellum, executive director of Venice's St. Joseph Center, which will be providing the services.

“People maybe haven't figured out all their issues before they move into housing, but we help them along the way.”

The design firm involved, Brooks + Scarpa Architects, created another Gateway Apartments that opened on Skid Row in November.

Permanent apartments, rather than shelters, have become a focus in Los Angeles as a lasting solution.

“What the design is now is to go with permanent housing for the chronically homeless ... and align them with social services because they are the biggest drain on the county system and the city system,” said Rushmore Cervantes, interim general manager of the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department.

Figures compiled by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority showed an estimated 58,423 people were homeless in the city last year.

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